> You can't say the same about color laser printers, as we learned last> week. Actually, we should have learned it nearly a year ago. That's> when PC World magazine reported that makers of color laser printers,> in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, have programmed their> machines to print tiny yellow dots on every printed document. These> dots are almost invisible under normal conditions, but can be spotted> by anyone with a magnifier and the right sort of lighting.

Some people go through printers quickly and put them out for yard
sales or even in the trash. People also let friends use printers.
Someone could inadvertently get criminally charged for something they
didn't do.

I am concerned that the explosion in electronic communication will
create problems for people unknowingly traced and possibly falsely
accused or suspected.

In this day and age, even being suspected of something can be ruinous.
They might not be able to lock you up in jail, but it will become
impossible to transact any kind of business to live.

The authorities supposedly could match typewritten documents to a
particular typewriter via high magnification. The conviction for
perjury of Alger Hiss* was based in part through a match up of
typewritten documents.

*Alger Hiss was a prominent government figure. A man named Whittaker
Chambers accused Hiss of being a communist spy during the Communist
witch hunt era. Hiss denied, under oath, being a spy and ever knowing
Chambers, Chambers said they were close friends and that he lived in
their home. It came down to either Hiss or Chambers was blatantly
lying. Hiss' story had a lot of holes in it. It was too long to
charge Hiss with espionage, but he was charged with perjury (lying
under oath), convicted, and sent to prison. He and his wife
proclaimed his innocence until they died many years later. Liberals
felt it was a frame up. Richard Nixon, who was in Congress at the
time, found a lot of evidence implicating Hiss and that propelled him
to fame. Liberals hated Nixon ever since. Today, general agreement
is that Hiss was indeed guilty of perjury.